Imagine a Hollywood cowboy star stepping off a train in Calgary, his horse in tow, with a film crew behind him. That really happened. It was June 17, 1925, and the star was Hoot Gibson.
Gibson arrived with his horse Silver and a party of about 40 cast and crew. They’d come to make a Universal Pictures western called The Calgary Stampede, and they weren’t going to fake the setting on a studio lot. They came to the real thing. The crew filmed the Stampede parade, the square dancing, the roping, the grandstand and the rodeo grounds. Not a bad backdrop for a picture that wanted to feel like the “Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.”
The director was Herbert Blaché, and the story came from screenwriter Raymond Schrock. Virginia Brown Faire played the female lead opposite Gibson, and the cast list includes Walter Brennan in an uncredited part, years before he became a household name. According to the University of Calgary, Blaché even used a covered wagon with a hidden camera to catch unposed street scenes. Think of it as an early version of a candid camera, hauled around Calgary by horses.
Stop on that hidden camera for a second. The point of unposed street footage is that the people in it weren’t acting. They were just Calgarians going about a Stampede week, and some of their faces ended up on film. That’s the kind of detail that makes old movies so addictive. A script gives you the story, but the background gives you the place.
The finished film came out on November 1, 1925. It runs about 60 minutes and it’s a silent picture, so the story rides on faces, horses and title cards. The plot builds toward a big climax at the Calgary rodeo, which is exactly what you’d hope for.
Here’s the part that makes this more than trivia. The film survives in several film archives, and the Glenbow Library and Archives Collection at the University of Calgary holds material connected to the production, with digital collections you can browse. That means a hundred-year-old Calgary summer is still waiting for you, frame by frame.
It also makes the Stampede a movie star in its own right. We’ve talked before about how much music rides along with the party in Calgary’s biggest music festival, but the Stampede has drawn cameras for a century too. And if you like the idea of Alberta on the big screen, our look at the difference between set in Calgary and shot in Calgary will give you more to chew on.
Put it all together and you’ve got a nice little package. A star, a train, a horse called Silver, a parade, a rodeo showdown and a city that said yes to the cameras. That makes a perfect Friday night rabbit hole.
Calgary film historian Mary Graham tells the story of this production in her book A Stunning Backdrop: Alberta in the Movies, 1917-1960, published by University of Calgary Press in 2023. If you want the full behind-the-scenes version, that’s your next stop.
Next Stampede, when the parade rolls past and the grandstand lights up, think about the crew with their cameras pointed at the very same spot in 1925. Then look up the University of Calgary’s story on the film and the Glenbow collection. You’ll never see the grounds quite the same way again.
Sources: UCalgary News, the story behind the 1925 film; Wikipedia, The Calgary Stampede (film).
Next up for you is Hoot Gibson and the Hollywood crew that crashed Stampede 1925. After that, The Allen family gave Calgary a movie palace.
Quick answers
Hoot Gibson arrived in Calgary on June 17, 1925, with his horse Silver and a party of about 40 cast and crew. They came to film The Calgary Stampede, a Universal Pictures western shot at the real Calgary Stampede.
Herbert Blaché directed it and Hoot Gibson starred, with Virginia Brown Faire as the female lead. Raymond Schrock wrote the story, and Walter Brennan appears in an uncredited part. The silent film came out on November 1, 1925, and runs about 60 minutes.
The crew filmed the Stampede parade, the square dancing, the roping, the grandstand and the rodeo grounds. The plot builds toward a big climax at the Calgary rodeo, and the picture aimed to feel like the “Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.”
The film survives in several film archives, and the Glenbow Library and Archives Collection at the University of Calgary holds material connected to the production. Its digital collections are available to browse online.
Related reading from us: Wynonna Earp Made Calgary Its Home Base and A Calgary optometrist film made the Regina lineup.
